Code Xana Episode 22: Dark
by James the Lesser
Summary: Things are dark for the gang.  WHat will happen when things get completely dark?  Read to find out


**Code Xana Episode 22: Dark**

**Author: James the Lesser/The Bunnyman**

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own These Characters! Moonscape Does! Actually, I own most of these characters, I made them up, but the place and the settings and the back round stuff is Moonscape.**

**Please read my episodes, 53-119 plus the OVA of Code Lyoko to know what is going on. Oh and Code Xana the Movie and Episode 1-21**

"King me." Ark moves the pawn to the back space of the chess board.

"Ark this isn't checkers. You can choose a piece I already took and replace the pawn with it." Krieger rolls his eyes as Ark picks his queen. "Idiot." Krieger takes the queen back with a rook during his move.

"No fair cheater."

"Just because I plan my moves ahead of time doesn't mean I cheat."

"You still cheat." Ark is down to three pawns and his king. "Can I just give up?"

"What a Frenchman, surrendering to a German."

"You're only half German and I'm only half French." Ark moves his pawn only to have it taken by a bishop. "Ok I half surrender and since I have less then half my pieces you win." Ark stands up. "You win you clean up."

"No you lost you clean up."

"You have all of the pieces." Ark motions to the pile of white pieces Krieger had taken.

"Good point." Krieger cleans up after the chess battle while two other Warriors get in a fight not so friendly.

"He's just a friend!" Sanne and Skitz are in their dorm room. "Skitz if you don't stop this I'll, I'll, I'll virtualize you into the Digital Sea."

"Sanne you were crying last night, and the night before that, and if you gave Krieger a chance maybe he could…" Sanne cuts her off.

"I don't like him like that! Damn it we just lost Dante to Xana not even two weeks ago! Why are you so obsessed with this?!"

"Because I'm tired of listening to you cry yourself to sleep! Maybe if you had something to distract your mind from what happened you'd stop!" Sanne had cried every night since Dante was taken by Xana.

"I, shut up!" Sanne leaves the room slamming the door behind her.

"You're crying again!" Skitz follows after Sanne. "We can get Dante back from Xana so you shouldn't be crying. Yet every night you cry." Skitz catches up to Sanne and stops her by grabbing her arm. "Why did you take losing Dante so hard? It's not like he's dead. It won't be long until you get him back from Xana."

"I can't get him back! I'm not my Dad! I'm a poser. I am nothing like my mom and dad! We can't get Dante back because I'm not good enough! I'm a stupid little girl who lost a friend to Xana and…" Sanne starts to cry heavily. Skitz hugs Sanne.

"I'm sorry. Sanne, things may look dark now but we'll get him back. We have faith in you. I bet Dante is waiting for you to free him."

"I can't Skitz I'm not smart enough! I can run the programs my parents already made, barely."

"Your father made a program to separate Samantha and Xana didn't He? If you're smart enough to run those programs you're smart enough to save Dante." Skitz and Sanne go back to their dorm room. Sanne continues to cry while Skitz tries to comfort her.

Later that day after finishing crying Sanne takes a shower. She didn't expect Skitz to talk to her about the crying. Sanne thought Skitz was asleep when she cried but apparently not. She was a mess, she'd try to be strong, help her friends fight Xana. But she blamed herself for losing Dante. She told him to go to a Tower instead of waiting and letting her friends escort him to a Tower. It was her rush, her impatience that lost the group Dante. Her friends all said they believed in her but they didn't know what it took to run the Super Computer. Even after reading her father's diaries and logs she had a hard time running all but the most basic of programs. She lets the hot water pound on her as she tries to keep herself from crying more.

"Stupid thing, I just wanted to play a show, come on." Skitz was on Sanne's Jtop trying to play an old episode of Pasturama she had downloaded. "Why are you beeping at me now?" Skitz clicks on screens. "This is supposed to be the best model available stop beeping at me!" She clicks on an icon that was flashing. "Oh, Super Scan, crap, Sanne went to the showers." Skitz gets her phone out and calls her brother. "Yo bro get to the Factory."

"Got it." They hang up. "Come on Mira Lyoko time." She nods and they head for the Factory.

"Krieger, Xana, Factory."

"Ok, where's Sanne?" Krieger thought it was weird that Skitz and not Sanne was alerting him of an attack. "If she's the target we can't deactivate the Tower."

"I know where she is and will get her now." They hang up as Skitz heads for the girls' showers. She opens the door and goes in. She hears the shower running but the stalls keep her from seeing Sanne. The showers had become stalls in 2011 after several parents complained open showers violated a student's right to privacy. "Sanne Xana is attacking!" No answer. "Sanne! Sanne, Xana is attacking!" Still no answer. Skitz walks farther into the showers and stops right outside of the stall with water running. "Sanne hurry up Xana is attacking!" She leans her head around the wall to see if she was talking to herself. "Sanne!" Sanne was curled into a ball crying. "I, Sanne we have to fight Xana." Skitz ignores the water and kneels next to Sanne. "Sanne, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. I just wanted to help you since you kept crying."

"I'm the one who's sorry. I could, I could be finding a way to get Dante back instead I cry and feel sorry for myself. I could have had him back by now if I had done something but I was stupid!"

"Sanne we're only thirteen. We all asked if you wanted to call our parents but you said Dante wasn't dead so we couldn't call our parents. Get dried off and dressed so we can get to the Factory ok? If you want to talk I'll listen after ok?" Sanne wipes her face with the back of her arm.

"I have to be strong. I have to deactivate the Towers now." Sanne stands up and turns the shower off before grabbing a towel. "I'll be out in a minute ok?" Skitz nods and leaves Sanne to change. Sanne comes out. "Don't tell the others ok?" Sanne takes Skitz's hand in hers. "I don't want them to know that I've been lying, crying."

"You haven't been lying you've been telling them what they had to hear. As far as they know you're over losing Dante because you have a plan to get him back." They let go and run for the Factory.

At the Factory Sanne and Skitz make it and find the others waiting for them. "Skitz why are your clothes all wet? It isn't raining out last I saw."

"Mind your own business Ark." Skitz turns to Sanne. "Well?"

"Ok guys go down and I'll send you then I'll join you. Hmmm, Mountain Sector, large barrier, I got this." The others get on the elevator and take it down to the Scanner Room. "Ok, Transfer Mira, Transfer Skitz, Transfer Ark, Scanner Mira, Scanner Skitz, Scanner Ark, Virtualization." They land on Lyoko.

"Sanne don't come!" Sanne does not hear the warning since she didn't put the headset on nor have the built in speakers on. She wasn't planning on playing the part her father did so didn't feel the need to hear what was going on Lyoko. She pushes the button for the elevator and they take it down once it came back up. Krieger and Sanne get in the Scanners and soon the doors close and they land on Lyoko, maybe.

"What's going on?"

"That's what we've been trying to tell you." Sanne looks towards the voice. She could see who it was since everything was dark! "Xana turned out the lights."

"And we're in the Mountain Sector. He picked the worst Sector to do this." With all the narrow pathways and twists and turns they could very easily walk right off the edge. "We have to move very slowly."

"Sanne you're the most important get on my disc." Ark was already on it. He flies over to Sanne and puts a hand on Sanne's shoulder. "Hop on Sanne." She gets on the disc. "Where do we go?"

"I don't know. Sector 5 would be to the east of us but the light coming off is gone. Dante, he could detect the Tower but we're nothing."

"Send one of us back. I volunteer." The voice was Skitz's. "Krieger where are you? Hit me with your sword and I'll try to direct you guys."

"Over here." There is sound of footsteps, the sound of a sword being drawn.

"Ouch that hurt." Krieger had hit his mark as Skitz goes back to Earth. A few minutes later Skitz sits down in the computer chair Sanne had bought and puts on the headset. "Hello Lyoko this is DJ SDR bringing you Un Monde Sans Danger by Noam." Skitz laughs at her joke as do Ark and Mira. "Guys go south on the trail for about, eh, twenty paces." She watches on the screen and hears her friends count out the steps. "Whoa stop!" They do. "Ok I guess that was only fourteen paces. Turn right and go twelve paces." She watches her friends. "Ok one more step for Ark and Mira." They do. "Turn right and watch out!" Skitz sees three red circles appear on the screen.

"Watch out? For what? We're blind." Suddenly there is a flash of light as a Hornet fires on the group. "Sanne I'd say stay behind me but I can't see where they are." Ark sees flashes of light as the Hornets fire but it isn't enough to let one get a good bearing on the Hornets.

"Ark let me try to get them." Sanne holds on to Ark to make sure she doesn't step off the disc. She concentrates on her energy and builds it for a Scattershot. She keeps watching the flashes of light then fires. Eight beams come out but none seem to hit.

"You know what? I haven't moved and I haven't been hit." Mira starts to laugh. "They can't see us." But the Hornets apparently could hear them and focus on Mira. "Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." Mira dodges the lasers.

"Sanne I'm going to fly down and let you off ok? I'll try and get lucky."

"Ok." Ark floats down on his disc and uses his tail to make sure there is land before letting Sanne down. He takes off following the flashes of light.

"Sanne, Krieger, Mira, follow my directions while my idiot brother distracts the Hornets."

"I'm not an idiot!" Ark yelling gets the Hornets attention. "Oh good plan."

"Plan?" Skitz laughs a little imagining the look on her brother's face. "Walk forward about ten paces." Her friends follow orders. "Uh, go left nineteen paces." She watches them walk and stop. "Ok now you can run right until I tell you to stop." Her friends run to the right for a long distance. "Ok stop." They do but Krieger is bumped into by Sanne and falls.

"Aaaa!" Krieger went to put his hands out to stop his fall but feels nothing!

"He's falling over the edge!" Skitz sees it on the screen and is helpless to stop it.

"No!" Sanne reaches out blindly and luckily grabs Krieger's foot. "Mira help…" Mira is suddenly hit by a blast fired from a Mega Tank.

"Sanne don't say a word." The Mega Tank had to be firing blindly. It fires again and misses Sanne by a large margin. "Sanne pull Krieger up then walk slowly towards where the Mega Tank is firing from.

"Easy for her to say." Sanne whispers it so the Mega Tank doesn't hear her. "Krieger can you grab the edge?"

"No." Krieger says it loud enough for Sanne to hear.

"I have you by one hand and am holding on with the other to the edge. I can't pull you up."

"If Skitz materialized me then you could pull yourself up."

"If I talk loud enough for her to hear me so would the Mega Tank." They are stuck in a deadly conundrum. If the Mega Tank finds where she is it would fire and hit the part of her arm hanging onto the edge. But the only way up would be to have her second hand free which could only be done if Krieger went back to Earth. "Use your sword to devirtualize yourself."

"I can't it fell out of the scabbard." Krieger already thought of that but found his sword was gone. "Don't let go of me."

"I won't." Sanne hangs on to Krieger and the edge of the pathway knowing it would mean death to let go of either.

"Ark, get Krieger and Sanne."

"I will." Ark had destroyed two Hornets when he flew between them and the fired.

"No you will do it now!"

"I have an idea that will make this a lot easier."

"I don't care if we lose Sanne and Krieger to the Digital Sea I'll kill you so Xana won't have to waste his time doing it."

"Got it! Where are they?"

"Go south." Ark does flying on his disc. "Now go left a little, not that much. Be careful there is a Mega Tank near there."

"You're telling me now?" Ark had already dodged a blast. "Fire again." He waits and the Mega Tank does. Ark destroys it!

"How did you do that?!" Ark didn't have any long distance weapons that Skitz knew of.

"Help from my pet. Just squeeze and he fires a laser." Ark had captured the last Hornet with his tail and now has it in his arms. He squeezes it and a laser fires creating light. "Found them." He wraps his tail around Sanne and lifts her onto the pathway. "You two want to get on?" He squeezes the Hornet firing a laser and creating light. The two get on the disc. "Where to now sis?"

"Follow the path left then fly over the next one and keep going." Now that her brother and friends could fly in a straight line they could skip all of the twists and turns. "Ok ladies and gentlemen you're almost there." Skitz watches on the screen as the elevator runs. She turns around and sees Mira. "Feel ok?"

"Got a burn but I'm fine." Mira walks over and looks at the screen. "How are they doing?"

"Great. They're almost there." Skitz goes back to the screen. "Now go a little to your right. No my right, there. Go forward and you should run into the Tower." Ark flies on his disc following his sister's directions to the Tower.

"This is your stop Sanne." Ark flies in front of the Tower and lets Sanne off. She goes into the Tower and the second she deactivates it Lyoko is lit again.

"Skitz I'm sending them back." Sanne uses the control panel in the Tower to send her friends then herself back to Earth.

"That was a bit weird." Ark and the rest of the group are heading back to Kadic Academy. "At least we didn't need to do a return."

"That was a dangerous attack. Ark if you hadn't captured that Hornet we would have had a lot harder time." Sanne had been shaken by the experience. She nearly lost Krieger just weeks after losing Dante.

"Sanne if you want, maybe, we could do some training?" Sanne had avoided Krieger and everyone else lately but now Krieger took the chance to reach out.

"No I'm going back to my room. I have to work on things." Sanne turns to Skitz. "Um, we could, do what you were talking about later if you want."

"No we can do that thing when we get back." Skitz wanted to help her friend more then anything else. She feels a little guilty for not confronting Sanne earlier but was glad she had now. Maybe tonight Sanne wouldn't cry herself to sleep. Maybe if Sanne talked about it, about her feelings, she would be able to fall asleep without waking up to nightmares.

**A/N If you don't know what Un Monde Sans Danger is then Shame On You! It's the opening theme song to Code Lyoko! Also, Sanne had faked being strong, had faked being over losing Dante by acting like she was fueled by getting Dante back. She lied to her friends but Skitz, her roommate, heard the crying. Skitz knew Sanne was hurt and wants to help. Maybe she can, maybe she can't. Maybe it would have been better to just lose Dante completely instead of knowing he was alive but not Dante.**


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